Defective and Faulty Product Claims and Lawsuits

Imagine driving in your car and the brakes stop working or you're using a stepladder to do some yard work and the ladder suddenly collapses. These may seem like random occurrences, but they may be due to faulty manufacturing.

Thousands of consumers are seriously injured or killed every year by defective and faulty products that have not been properly manufactured, inspected or tested to insure that the products will not cause serious injuries or even loss of life.

When a family member is permanently injured or even killed due to defective or dangerous product, the person injured or their family member often contacts our experienced faulty product injury lawyers to seek justice.

To learn more about dangerous drug and product recall cases, check out these other articles:

Fentanyl (Duragesic) Pain Patch Overdose Deaths

YAZ Birth Control and Gall Stone Lawsuits

Did the company know from previous similar accidents, injuries or deaths, that the product was unsafe or dangerous and should have been recalled or modified well before the date of the injury? This is often a very important question in a defective product claim or lawsuit that an experienced product defect lawyer will investigate through a variety of research sources. As a matter of fact any product defect lawyer and staff should have experience with how to get the research information necessary to pursue a serious faulty product lawsuit.

Defective product injury attorneys have an important role in the civil justice system. This is evident with over a century of lawsuits that have forced manufacturers to inspect, produce and sell safe products. There are times these safety measures have only occurred because of the economic penalty of major lawsuits and multimillion verdicts returned by juries against manufacturers who insisted that their products were not unsafe, refusing to recall them until millions of dollars of settlements and verdicts convince the companies and their insurance companies that the product simply cannot be sold in its defective status.

As a matter of fact, It is through the investigation and research of experienced defective product injury attorneys (and the resulting major verdicts for consumers injured or killed) that all of the following defective or dangerous products have either been improved or withdrawn from the consumer marketplace, and notably the faulty product attorneys brought these issues to the national media's attention.

Examples of Deffective Products Exposed by Faulty Product Lawsuits

Firestone Tire Defects

Many people driving on Firestone tires had to deal with the trauma of seeing their tires overheat and the tread separate while they were traveling on the highway. This led to major accidents and serious, life-altering injuries for the driver and passengers.

Asbestos insulation

This poisonous material can lead to a devastating form of cancer known as mesothelioma. People usually breath in the asbestos fibers and they lodge in your lungs wreaking havoc on your body. The problem is that the toxic fibers are microscopic, so you may not even know you're breathing the asbestos in.

Vioxx

Patients were prescribed Vioxx (rofecoxib-Merck) relieve symptoms of arthritis and physical injuries. It turned out that the medication increased users' risks for heart attacks and strokes. More than 80 million people were prescribed the dangerous drug before it was taken off the market.

Bridgestone Tires on Ford Vehicles

This product liability suit stemmed from a recall of faulty tires linked to blowout accidents in which drivers and passengers were injured and killed. Pickups and SUVs equipped with the tires would often roll over when the tires ruptured.

Asbestos Building Materials Produced by Owens Corning

Working with the materials exposed employees to asbestos fibers that caused. mesothelioma, other cancers and deaths.

Silicone Brest Implants Made by Dow Chemical

Woman sued after the implantable medical devices ruptured in their chest, causing injuries, illnesses and deaths.

1979 Chevy Malibu Gas Tanks

Faulty gas tanks on the cars manufactured by General Motors Corp. could explode, causing burns and other injuries to car owners and mechanics.

Tobacco Products

Smokers and surviving family members filed claims against Philip Morris and other tobacco companies, alleging that the risks of cigarettes for ickening and killing people were intentionally not disclosed to the public.


Legal Theories in Faulty or Defective Product Suits

The claims most commonly associated with product liability are negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty and various consumer protection claims. The majority of product defect/liability laws are determined at the state leveland vary widely from state to state. Each type of product liability claim requires different elements to be proven to present a successful claim. Common legal theories are

• Manufacturing defect
• Design defect
• Failure to warn, also known as marketing defects
• Breach of warranty
• Strict liability
• State consumer protection law.

State laws may allow these legal theories, as well as others:

• Breach of express (usually written) warranty.
• Breach of implied warranty made in product documents or advertisements that imply a certain feature is safe or that, by law, the item is for it intended use.
• Negligence: There was a careless act in manufacturing, testing or selling.
  
• Strict liability: There can be no defect in a product sold even if an written or express warranty was not made.

How Our Faulty/Defective Product Injury Attorneys Investigate

If a defective product injury or wrongful death claim meets our specific criteria, we accept these cases on a contingent legal fee basis, meaning there are no up front costs or fees imposed on a consumer or the family fees or costs. We are paid if there is a recovery, and if there is no recovery there is no legal fee charged. Naturally, manufacturers and sellers of consumer products typically defend these suits by arguing that there is simply nothing wrong with the product so there is a great deal of research required in order to gather the legal evidence that will convince an insurance company as well as the seller/manufacturer that a substantial settlement should be paid. That is where we come in, so please study our website for our track record of successful settlements and verdicts in major cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries as well as loss of life.